4.30.2013 Norton Rose, Mayer Brown and SMBC advise on $1.2 billion debt financing for 6 LNG carriers

4.5.2013 Nordic Capital to acquire Unifeeder from Montagu Private Equity, Hawkpoint advises

Nordic Capital Fund VIII has agreed to purchase Unifeeder, a Danish logistics company, from Montagu Private Equity for an undisclosed amount. Danish newspaper Børsen reported in February that Montagu had appointed Hawkpoint, a financial advisor, to help sell Unifeeder for a target price of DKK 3 billion ($538 million).

4.5.2013 3i and Allianz Capital Partners look for bidders for jointly owned Scandlines, $1.8 billion

This week, KNOT Offshore Partners LP amended its initial registration statement to offer common units in a limited partnership which will own, operate and acquire shuttle tankers under long-term charters. The transaction’s sponsor is Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers AS (“KNOT”), which will contribute shuttle tankers, which are on long-term charters to national oil companies, as its investment. It will also serve as the general partner and own a limited partnership interest as well.

Marine Money proudly presented its 11th Marine Money Asia Week Forum on 25th and 26th September at the St Regis, Singapore. The event was well-attended with close to 450 participants during the two days including presenters. The mood as expected was grim. Caution still rules and the next two years for the major shipping sectors will be challenging. But there was a feeling that we are nearing bottom and we know what needs to be done to get through.

An interesting group of banks has agreed to provide EMAS, the deepwater subsea services arm of Ezra Holdings a USD 273 million seven year term loan for the construction of an ice-class, deepwater subsea multi-lay vessel with heavy-lift capabilities, named the Lewek Constellation. The facility, led by bookrunners DBS and DNB Bank, satisfies 65% of the vessel construction cost at USD 420 million and what makes this deal truly noteworthy is the participation of a number of Asian banks, not commonly seen in offshore transactions.

Dubai based offshore service provider, Atlantic Navigation, has completed a listing on the Singapore Stock Exchange’s Catalist board, via a back-door listing through Fastube, a China-based company that specialises in custom made precision steel pipes that links oil & gas wells to production facilities and for machinery use. We believe this is the second reverse taking-over transaction in the offshore space in Singapore, since Falcon Energy’s listing in May 2006.

We had the pleasure to listen to Cosimo Borrelli, Managing Director at Borrelli Walsh who gave a rather depressing presentation on restructurings on the first day of Marine Money Asia Week in Singapore. His prognosis, without surprise, was grim. A second wave of restructurings in the maritime space might be coming our way as large volumes of 2^nd tier debt and refinancings fall due in late 2012 and early 2013. Till date, the industry has already seen the restructuring or collapse of a number of shipping companies such as General Maritime, Trailer Bridge, Frontline, Korea Line, Horizon Lines, Marco Polo Seatrade, NewLead Holdings and Trico Marine Services.

As the appointed advisor to Berlian Laju Tanker’s on-going restructuring exercise, Mr. Borrelli shared with the audience the layers of complexity and challenges in this transaction. The key risk in BLT’s restructuring is the number and different classes of creditors with different interests – unsecured and secured bank debt, convertible and high yield bonds, hedge funds, lease debt and other financial instruments such as derivatives debt all across several jurisdictions.

Dubai based offshore service provider, Atlantic Navigation, has completed a listing on the Singapore Stock Exchange’s Catalist board, via a back-door listing through Fastube, a China-based company that specialises in custom made precision steel pipes that links oil & gas wells to production facilities and for machinery use. We believe this is the second reverse taking-over transaction in the offshore space in Singapore, since Falcon Energy’s listing in May 2006. The Singapore Stock Exchange’s Catalist is a sponsor-supervised listing platform similar to London’s Alternative Investment Market, aimed to attract fast-growing companies.

For the acquirer, Fastube was an ideal acquisition target. Fastube was struggling to stay afloat with a substantial net shareholders’ deficit position and more importantly, the controlling shareholders wanted to sell out. The acquisition of Atlantic Navigation would therefore provide Fastube shareholders an exit from a business that may require further financing resources to fund its operation going forward.

Marine Money Asia was in Xiamen, China last week to attend World Shipping (China) Summit 2012. The theme of the conference was “Sharing an Orderly Market.” It is clear to all that shipowners want and hope to see a concerted effort towards rate restoration, which will become increasingly necessary in the coming months. The shipping industry has gone through four years of depression and the prospects for the next two years remain less than sanguine. If rates continue to stay where they are, more shipping companies will be pushed to the edge.

China State Shipbuilding Corporation (“CSSC”) has launched its third tranche of medium term notes for 2012. The state-owned shipbuilding conglomerate has initially planned to roll out this final MTN tranche in 4Q2012, but has decided to bring forward the offering to September 17. Together with China Everbright Bank, and CITIC Securities, CSSC is targeting to raise RMB 4.5 billion (USD 713 million) ten year unsecured notes. CSIC’s notes will pay investors a fixed annual coupon, to be determined after book-building.